It’s rare for me (Mark) to step from behind the Bristol Rising curtain, and though some of you may have already heard, I wanted to take the time to address all Bristol Risers in letting you know that today is […]

Photo Credit: Tammi Naudus
What a tremendous outpouring of community support with well over 100 volunteers banding together to clean the Memorial Boulevard School in anticipation of a special Nov 9th USO style […]

Risers, a special occasion is upon us! Celebrate Artist Tree Tea House’s one-year anniversary as a cornerstone retailer of the West End by supporting a unique event this weekend! Attend Kirtan Jam, and get […]

Mua ha ha ha! Get into the October scary spirit and come to the new Witches Dungeon! Ribbon cutting Friday evening at 6pm at their new location, dowwwntowwwwn at the Bristol Historical Society on Summer Street! OOO!

**Doors will open to the public at 7pm**

Kudos to Bristol’s own classic fright film guru Courtlandt…[Read more]

Chris Powell and his wife are new to town, but they aren’t new to vibrant downtown experiences.

The couple knows a thing or two about vital walkable downtowns having recently moved from Brooklyn to Bristol. Chris recently commented on Bristol Rising’s Facebook page sharing his honesty about the void that exists downtown and how the great…[Read more]

Bristol Rising has always been apolitical and will remain that way, but it’s big news when we see our community leaders voice the need to get downtown moving forward, and the importance of hammering out a proper solution to kick off the beginning of the downtown dream as Councilors Calvin Brown, Mary Fortier, and Ellen Zoppo did in releasing…[Read more]

Solkanar">Photo by Hanna Furey
Let’s talk about downtown Bristol becoming a destination draw for a second. Listen to this awesome story.

One of our Bristol Rising volunteers shared an experience he had while he was volunteering at Flavor’d Food Fest last Saturday. While in the midst of selling an awesome thousand tickets in one hour (!), he struck up…[Read more]

THANK YOU to all who made Flavor’d Food Fest: A Taste of Bristol & Beyond such a hit!

Despite weather circumstances, there was a high hum of positive energy embodied in the event. And because of the weather situation, we saw many of your big hearts on display in sticking with us and adding to this fresh experience in Bristol!
It was…[Read more]

Flavor’d Food Fest’s original goal for this first year ‘tasting’ and food festival was to see if they could get 25 restaurant “tasting vendors” to participate, a number the committee felt was a great first-year step.

Consider that one step nearly fulfilled, with an excitable committee seeing just how much further they can push the limits,…[Read more]

Hi everyone, you can now read through and view Renaissance Downtowns’ newest financial proposal to the BDDC, a supplemental submission to the original April submission. This one was submitted August 15th, and you can view it right here on this very page by just scrolling through!

The more Bristol eats at September 13th’s Flavor’d Food Fest, the more good it could end up doing for downtown culture!

Bristol Rising is currently organizing Flavor’d Food Fest: A Taste of Bristol & Beyond, a not-for-profit event, as a means of showcasing the culinary gems in town and of invited CT establishments, while providing a pop-up…[Read more]

Risers, we wanted to share another special Kickstarter initiative with you all!

Artist Tree Tea House just launched a Kickstarter page and is looking to raise $6,000 in the next 27 days to create a really cool deckspace out back that would have seating that overlooks the Pequabuck River, which would be the only retail location in town to…[Read more]

It sure was festive! 45-50 people jam-packed the Parkside Cafe’s two dining areas, and were treated to a wonderful smorgasbord of food (scroll to bottom of page) and a presentation on a bunch of BR and downtown initiatives by yours truly, as well as an open forum with…[Read more]

In 2011, a first year event called the Pop Up Piazza drew 15,000-plus visitors –a thrilling accomplishment signaling Bristol’s ready for big things! On top of that we’ve crowdsourced downtown amenities, shown a market for a walkable destination downtown, helped open…[Read more]

Hey Risers, we thought over the course of the next several weeks and months it would be fun to share some data from media sources, studies, and industry articles that speak to some of the values we’re strong proponents of, that are a big part of the Depot Square/ Bristol Rising project.